Offside?

Exactly one year ago, I wrote a blog about foul play in relation to the elections on Sint Maarten:

Since 10-10-10 the political elite on Sint Maarten has been creating their own game, often with leftover ‘gifts’ from the colonial past. Sometimes this leads to frustration and disagreement. But, like Billy, the players also enjoy the game, especially when they win. And when they loose, they tend to try and alter both the playing field and the movements allowed.

For this year’s November blog I return to the political games being played on the island.

After hurricane Irma roared over Sint Maarten, Prime minister Marlin and his government remained silent for a rather long time. The actions that followed the silence, such as the placement of containers on the border with St-Martin (which Marlin denied to be responsible for), and the ﻿public attack on the policemen and women and marines from the entire Kingdom﻿ (also first denied, later nuanced, and eventually excused), did not strengthen Marlin’s position. People loudly commented on and complained about the lack of leadership and initiative on social media.

The Kingdom supplied emergency aid in the form of augmenting security and the distribution of water and food in cooperation with the people on the island. Large material was also brought to the island to aid in the clean up. Soon after supplying emergency aid the Dutch government formulated demands that Sint Maarten would have to comply with in order to receive structural aid: The integrity chamber that had been a point of discussion between the Dutch and Sint Maarten governments for years was to be implemented according to the demands of the Dutch (including two Dutch-picked members) and Dutch marines would have to be welcomed to better secure the island borders.

After Irma the Sint Maarten government had the same issues with these demands as it did before Irma. Mostly, the demands were considered to be neo-colonial. Moreover, why would only Sint Maarten need an integrity chamber? Another import objection concerned the unethical connection of aid with political demands. These issues were also extensively discussed on social media: why were politicians so afraid of this integrity chamber? Were they afraid they would personally loose out? But critical questions about Dutch interference and Dutch integrity were also frequently posed.

However, most people who make their daily living on the island consider the issue pragmatically: we need help, a lot of help en the government in the Hague is willing to deliver. We don’t know how much, for how long and how exactly, but it is better than nothing.

Prime minister Marlin continued to refuse however. And with the deadline approaching, some parliamentarians decided to play a different game. Two days before the Dutch government would withdraw its offers of help, the coalition that was forged a year ago, lost its majority: A member ‘jumped ship’. Someone within the majority coalition left their party and joined the opposition. Now, the opposition has a majority, can create a new government and can accept the Dutch aid and related demands. Marlin could still try and form a national government with the former opposition, or he can dissolve parliament and call for new elections. I wonder if this political game will produce more winners amongst those who are now loosing out. Or will Marlin still put Sint Maarten offside?